Surgical punches are well known in the art. Such instruments are generally used in arthroscopic surgery to cut through tough body tissue (e.g. cartilage) in areas of limited access (e.g. knee interiors). Surgical punches cut by punching out pieces of tissue. To this end, surgical punches generally comprise first and second jaw members, wherein the first jaw member is stationary and serves as a die, and the second jaw member is mounted for pivotal movement towards and away from the first jaw member and serves as a punch. In the typical surgical punch, the two jaw members are adapted to be alternately opened and closed relative to one another by manipulation of a scissors-type handle.
Unfortunately, conventional surgical punches have exhibited one or more limitations during use. More particularly, conventional surgical punches typically utilize a relatively inefficient mechanical design in which the punch's pivot points are subjected to significant stress during use. Such stress may shorten the lifetime of the surgical punch. The foregoing stress problem is exacerbated by the fact that conventional surgical punches typically use tiny pivot pins to hinge the two jaw members together. Such pivot pins have proven susceptible to breakage during use, thereby rendering the surgical punches inoperable or, even worse, resulting in tiny fragments of metal entering the surgical area. Attempts have been made to solve this breakage problem by increasing the dimensions of selected parts of the surgical punches so as to increase part strengths; however, such efforts have not been wholly successful, inasmuch as the increased dimensions tend to render the instruments less satisfactory for use in cramped working reas (e.g. knee interiors). Efforts have also been made to solve the aforementioned problems by producing surgical punches which do not use pivot pins. However, such other arrangements have not been entirely satisfactory.
Surgical forceps are also well known in the art. Such instruments are used to grasp tissue and/or objects that would be inconvenient or impractical to grasp by hand. Surgical forceps generally comprise first and second jaw members, with one or both of the jaw members being adapted for pivotal movement towards and away from the other jaw member. In the typical forceps design, the two jaw members are adapted to be alternately opened and closed relative to one another by manipulation of a scissors-type handle. Such forceps may also include some sort of means for locking the first and second jaw members in a selected position for an extended period of time.
Conventional surgical forceps frequently have the same limitations as surgical punches, e.g. excessive stress at pivot points leading to early failure, or excessive size which hampers their use in cramped working areas. A further problem with some prior forceps designs is that their locking means have a tendency to slip out of a selected setting. If the jaws are spring biased so as to open, the jaws will tend to open to a wider setting when the looking means slips.